including meals and washing.
To Paul the difference was so great between the place and the one they
were then occupying, that he was anxious to go there at once, and the
others were quite as eager as he was. Ben was sure that he could induce
Dickey to make the fourth in that perfection of boarding-houses, as he
knew it would prove to be; and in case he should not succeed in
convincing Master Spry that it would be better for him to live there
rather than in his hogshead, he promised to use all his eloquence on
Mopsey Dowd, or some other equally eligible party.
Thus it was decided that the boys should change their home on the
following day, and all hands were remarkably well pleased; Mrs. Green
because four boarders would bring in a weekly amount of ten dollars,
and the boys because at last they were to live like other people.
It would not be a difficult matter to move, for two coats, rather the
worse for wear, and three old tomato cans were all the property they
had to bring; Paul's tops, which constituted his baggage, could be
carried in the pocket of his jacket without any trouble.
When they got back to the hogshead that night, and told Dickey of the
important change they were about to make, he read them a very severe
lesson on the sinfulness of extravagance. It was perhaps a trifle more
pointed than it would have been if he had not just been made bankrupt
by the perfidy of a friend. But it was both time and labor thrown away
to try to induce him to become a fourth boarder at Mrs. Green's. He
positively refused to listen to the scheme, after it had been
described to him, and the conversation ended by his buying back his
old home at the original price, agreeing to pay ten cents each week as
soon as he should be once more firmly established in business.
That night Paul had an attack of homesickness; but, being very tired,
he went to sleep before it became so bad as to be noticed by his
friends.
On the following morning Paul went about his work quite as if he had
been accustomed to that sort of thing for some time; and owing to the
fact that the papers contained an account of a terrible railroad
disaster, trade was remarkably good with him and Johnny, and
correspondingly bad with Ben. Three times during the morning they sold
out their entire stock, and Paul was so excited by the rush, as well
as the amount of money they were making, that he quite forgot his
troubles.
When dinner-time came, Paul and Johnny
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